


Training Wheels

by charybdis_nerdrage



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Gen, Please comment the writer needs validation, Summer, a kid and his dad's weird friend, just kinda vibing, teaching how to shoot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25546255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charybdis_nerdrage/pseuds/charybdis_nerdrage
Summary: MacCready agreed to stay out to watch on the hottest day of the year. It was setting up to be the most boring day of his life, until Shaun shakes his shoulder and asks him to teach him to shoot a gun. MacCready reluctantly agrees, taking Shaun to a nearby abandoned playground to teach him how to fire a pistol. On the way he learns that he might be more up to the task of fathering than he thinks he is, and he really should give himself some more credit.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	Training Wheels

Summer in the Commonwealth wasn’t bad. Sure, it got warmer, most people that piled on layers the rest of the year had to shed one or two for a few months, and on the hotter days like today, most raiders were too exhausted and heated to bother attacking major settlements. That meant one thing, it was a day off for most of the Minutemen. 

Maccready refused to be considered a Minuteman. He was just a hired gun that had a close relationship with the General. Despite this fact he couldn’t help but take up any Minutemen worthy jobs General Logan Garcia ever asked him to do. Maccready had always found it easy to say no to people, that had been the case with everyone except Logan. That’s why he was currently sitting in a chair a bit away from the castle, his sniper rifle leaning against his side. Logan had asked him to keep watch for the day, even though there was no way raiders would bother coming out. Maccready didn’t bother thinking of how boring the experience would be, he just said yes. No questions asked.

Maccready fanned himself with his hat, his old coat had been left in the castle, and his green shirt sleeves had been rolled up. Agreeing to watch all day on the hottest day of the year was stupid. He angrily grumbled and leaned back in his chair. Nothing was happening up ahead, the dry grass just blew in the humid breeze. Radstag jumped over fences, the two headed idiots running from the slightest snap of a twig. Maccready let out a heavy sigh and put his hat back on, the shade falling over his eyes to keep his vision clear. He agreed to stay out here for a few hours, why did he do that? Well, there was no skipping it, unless he wanted to explain to Logan that he had decided not to do what he’d agreed to in the first place. He wasn’t in the mood to get yelled at.

He was so spaced out in his own frustration that he didn’t notice someone excited running from the Castle entrance. Maccready flinched when he heard his name being called.

“RJ! RJ wake up!” The person yelled. Maccready looked behind his shoulder at Shaun, the General’s kid, absolutely beaming. The kid was practically bouncing in place just on excitement alone.

“I’m awake, I’m awake.” Maccready grumbled and turned in his seat, looking over at Shaun expectantly.

Shaun had only been rescued from the Institute recently, and as Logan had explained it, he wasn’t really his son. The kid was a synth, he was made in a lab, and everyone seemed to be okay with that. Everyone but Maccready. He didn’t really know how Logan could call a toaster his son. Sure, the kid was cute, but he was still fake.

“I uh-” Shaun’s excitement died down, the kid awkwardly fidgeted with his hands. “I want you to teach me how to shoot. Dad says you’re really good, and I wanna be a minuteman.”

Maccready let out a soft sigh and glanced down at his own sniper rifle. “Did your dad say it was okay?”

“Well- Not exactly.” Shaun admitted. “But it’s fine, right? I don’t need Dad’s permission to do everything.”

Maccready hesitated. He really didn’t want to piss off Logan, and giving the kid back hurt meant he was fired for sure. Then again, Maccready started learning around Shaun’s age, and at the time he would have killed for a serious teacher, instead of just his own intuition.

“I- You know what? Fine.” Maccready conceded, getting up from his chair and putting his gun back over his back. Shaun beamed excitedly. “Don’t get your hopes up, I’m not teaching you to use a sniper until you’re older.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to send you off to your dad hurt, then my ass-  _ ahem-  _ I might get fired.” He quickly corrected himself, taking out his emergency pistol that he used when long range combat went wrong. “You’re learning on this.”

Shaun frowned slightly in disappointment, but looked over the pistol in Maccready’s hand curiously. “Where are we gonna practice?”

“There’s an old playground a little ways away. I can set up some targets, and you shoot them down with my help.” Maccready explained, already walking out towards the old playground. Shaun nodded and jogged to catch up with him. 

The sun beamed down on them, making the short walk seem like a long one in reflection. They both walked through the dry grass, dead and scattered branches crunching under their feet as they walked. Maccready lifted up the wires of the broken fence to let Shaun duck down under and into the old, run down playground. Maccready followed after, passively fanning himself as he looked around for some kind of possible target. He set a few old beer bottles onto a picnic bench and nodded to himself.

“Alright kid, let’s get this show on the road.” Maccready handed Shaun the gun, and Shaun awkwardly fiddled with it, clearly not sure how to hold it. “Oh uh- do you know how to load it?”

“No, but I’ve seen dad do it.”

“Dad’s not great at shooting, let’s not copy him.” Maccready snickered and took the gun back, lowering himself next to shaun. “Copy me instead.” He loaded the gun. Shaun watched curiously, keeping an eye on the details so he wouldn’t miss anything.

“I think I got it.” Shaun mumbled, taking the gun from Maccready and repeating the motions hesitantly. He took the magazine back out and snapped it back in, glancing up at Maccready for approval.

“See? You’re already a natural.” Maccready patted his back. “Rule number one: Don’t point that thing at anyone you don’t want to see dead.”

Shaun slightly shuttered. “Do you have to put it like that…?”

“Yeah, or else you won’t take me seriously.”

Shaun nodded slightly and looked over at the beer bottles. “... can I shoot now?”

“Reload that pistol a few more times, I wanna know that you know how to handle it.” Maccready instructed. Shaun nodded and did what he was told, unloading and reloading slightly more confidently the more he did it. He wasn’t perfect at it, but he had picked up the gun only 5 minutes ago, Maccready wasn’t expecting him to be a prodigy.

Once Shaun was ready, Maccready helped straighten the kid’s posture as he aimed down the sights of the pistol.

“Keep your arms straight, or your aim’s gonna be off.” Maccready explained, looking over Shaun’s form thoughtfully. “You need to move with the gun, it doesn’t move for you. It’s gonna feel weird at first, then, trust me, it’ll be easy as pie.” Shaun nodded and aimed down the sights at one of the bottles.

“Okay, I think I’ve got it.” Shaun mumbled.

“Great. Now take a deep breath, then pull the trigger on exhale.” Maccready said, stepping back and watching Shaun carefully. He wanted to smother out any bad habits early before Shaun got himself killed.

Shaun took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger, trying to stay confident. The shot rang out, loud in comparison to the silence around them. Shaun lowered the gun and frowned, his hands slightly trembling.

Maccready hesitated. “Listen, you’re not gonna get every shot at first.” He tried, placing a hand on Shaun’s shoulder to reassure him. “Heck, you won’t get every shot for your whole life, you just gotta practice. Now come on, let’s try again.”

Shaun nodded and sniffled, wiping his eyes and raising his arms with slightly more confidence in his spirit. He fired a few more rounds at the bottles, a grin forming on his face the more he shot. He missed every time, sure, but Maccready couldn’t help but smile. He was glad the kid was having fun learning how to do this, he was even a bit jealous. Maccready had to practice on passing adults and dead animals on the road, and that didn’t end up very good for his own mental stability. 

Shaun emptied the clip, at this point shaking with adrenaline. He turned to Maccready with a grin.

“Can I have more bullets? I was  _ super  _ close to hitting one of the bottles. Please?” Shaun begged. Maccready chuckled and took another clip out of his pocket. He handed it to Shaun, who reloaded a little slowly, but faster than he had the first time.

“I don’t have a million of these things, bullets cost money. Don’t use too many of those things, alright?” Shaun nodded and aimed, firing another bullet at the bottles placed on the picnic table. The third shot was coupled with the harsh shattering of glass, the top half of the bottle came clattering down on the surface of the table. Shaun grinned and looked over at Maccready for approval.

“I did it! I did it!”

“Yeah, you did it kid. Nice job.” Maccready smiled.

“I’m gonna be as good a shot as you, huh?” Shaun giggled and looked down at the gun in his hands excitedly.

“Nah I wouldn’t say that.” The merc snickered. “Maybe you can take down another bottle and prove me wrong.”

Shaun nodded confidently and aimed down the sights, firing another few rounds at one of the bottles. He missed just barely, one of the bullets hitting the table instead of the bottle. He frowned.

“Maybe it was just a lucky shot.” Shaun sighed heavily. Maccready shrugged and took the pistol back from Shaun.

“Hey, you got good progress in. It takes a while to get good at this kind of thing, and the fact that you’re starting now is great!” Maccready walked over and sat the last two remaining bottles aside. “Come on, let’s take a break. There’s an old shop down the road that’s bound to have some snacks.” 

Shaun sighed softly and put his hands in his jeans pockets sadly. “Okay…” He mumbled, following after Maccready towards the old shop.

-

Shaun held the half empty box of snack cakes, fiddling with the old cardboard in thought. The two started walking slowly back to the castle, the evening sky beginning to shift to a gorgeous gold as the breeze around them grew cool. Radstags stood grazing in the distance, the castle looming just ahead, the dark blue flags flying confidently in the breeze. Maccready looked over at Shaun hesitantly. He didn’t know how to talk to the kid, wasn’t sure how to arrange the words.

Did he talk about school? Shaun was being taught by some rando from Diamond City, and Maccready didn’t think he would want to talk about that right now. What would he even say? What did kids like? He decided to say something anyway.

“So… what are you up to?”

“Oh? Oh it isn’t anything special.” Shaun dismissed. “You wouldn’t care.”

“I mean I would, I just asked.”

Shaun paused, and then shrugged. “Dad got me this old broken radio that I want to fix so I can listen to diamond city radio in my room. I love the Freedom Radio… but it’s a bit boring.”

“That sounds pretty cool,” Maccready admitted. “I was never much into tinkering myself. If you ever need me to grab stuff for you I’m up for it. Anything’s better than doing chores for your dad.”

They both laughed at that, then went a little silent. Shaun cleared his throat. “... Hey RJ?”

“Yeah kid?”

“... Dad told me you had a son, where is he?”

That took Maccready by surprise. Then again, Logan couldn’t keep a secret around Shaun, the kid asked so many questions it was hard to make up a lie if anything touchy came up. And after all the bullshit Logan went through to get him back, it was no wonder that Logan found it hard to lie to the kid.

The merc took a deep breath. “He’s somewhere else right now. I want to get him soon… but I don’t know if I’m ready, or if everything is safe for him here.”

“What do you mean? We’re in a huge castle full of protection.”

“It’s grown up stuff.” Maccready dismissed.

The truth was that he’d been stalling in bringing Duncan back. The kid was only 3 years old, let alone smaller than most kids his age thanks to the illness. He didn’t know how to take care of a kid, let alone face Duncan after leaving him in Little Lamplight for 2 whole years. In all honesty, he was probably better off if he just avoided Duncan altogether. He couldn’t be a dad alone out here, especially to a kid that young and impressionable.

Maccready looked over at Shaun hesitantly. Now that he thought about it, maybe he could be a dad further down the line. Teaching Shaun to shoot made him feel something, and it was a good feeling. Maybe he was further along the path of good than he thought he was. Maybe Logan was right.

Maybe he should give himself some more credit.

Shaun passed him the box of remaining snack cakes, which maccready took with a smile. They shared the rest all the way back into the courtyard of the castle, only to be confronted by General Logan for running off the whole day.

Maccready didn’t even feel guilty, he just apologized and slipped past the fuming general, walking back towards his room in the castle.

He couldn’t wait to take Shaun out for more shooting practice tomorrow. 

**Author's Note:**

> I took a break from my main project to puke out this little one shot. It's been brewing in my head for a while, and I want to do a long fic with MacCready and another sole anyway, so I wanted some practice on writing him. I hope you all enjoy! Leave comments if you want, I'd really appreciate it.
> 
> My tumblr is @charybdis-nerdrage if you wanna see the garbage I post on a regular basis-


End file.
